Mightier Than the Sword
by alski86
Summary: This is a separate story that follows 'A Chance Meeting.' It takes the concept of the X:WP episode 'The Quill is Mightier' and goes somewhere different with it.
1. Chapter 1

Another morning at another campfire. Xena was awoken by Gabrielle tapping her quill on a freshly unwound scroll. Gabrielle had been known to write many stories about their adventures together, but for the last few days she'd been struggling to write about another person they met not so long ago.

He was called the Doctor. He said that his vessel, the TARDIS, could take him anywhere in time and space. That idea opened up a whole universe of possibilities to Gabrielle. So many other worlds amongst the stars. So many possible stories it was hard to know which one to write about.

"You should give that a rest, Gabrielle," Xena said, "The right story will come to you."

"That's the problem!" Gabrielle cried in frustration. "There are so many right stories. Listen," she said, picking up a scroll covered with notes. "Imagine if he went to another world where there are these hideously malformed creatures encased in metal, that fire lightning at people who disobey them?"

"Hm, and what would these creatures be called?" asked Xena.

Gabrielle's shoulders slumped. "I haven't got that far yet."

She put her scroll down and started to cook breakfast for her and Xena.

Xena sat watching Gabrielle, deep in thought. Gabrielle used to be content with writing about their adventures together, and now she was obsessing over the Doctor. They had only met him and spoke with him for five minutes, but it was enough for Gabrielle to be completely enthralled. Xena wasn't exactly jealous about this turn in the tide, but it did raise a serious question.

Finally, she asked the question that had been bothering her.

"Do you ever wish that you could have gone travelling with the Doctor?" she asked.

"Gods, yes!" Gabrielle gushed, "A chance to see new flora and fauna? Meet people from the other side of the stars? Who wouldn't?"

Gabrielle turned to look at Xena. She was staring into the fire, smiling faintly. To Gabrielle, it looked like Xena was a little hurt by what she had said.

She continued, "But Xena, the only way I'd have gone with the Doctor is if you came with me." She said, "I know you've got unfinished business here and I understand that. Besides, what would you do without me, huh?"

Xena smiled as Gabrielle handed her breakfast. As they ate they watched their campfire burn it itself out, and the subject was not raised again.

Whenever Aphrodite descended from Mount Olympus, it usually meant trouble. It had been a hoot when she turned that idiot Joxer into a swashbuckling hero every time a bell rang.

However, there were times when she used her power responsibly. The last time was when she made the same day repeat over and over for a pair of star-crossed lovers until a hero came to save them. That hero turned out to be Xena, and she did a really good job too. Aphrodite had to give kudos for that.

She'd been watching as the hero, her girlfriend and their hanger-on left town and ran into that weird doctor. A guy who can travel through time and space. Not a god, just some crazy old man. She might have had the power to control time, but travelling wherever she liked inside it was strictly off limits to any god. It caused too many problems, changing the past.

So who in Tartarus was this guy, to think he could travel across time to anywhere and anywhen he wanted? Personally, if given the chance, she would like to meet him too.

She had been listening to Xena and Gabrielle's little heart-to-heart over the Doctor. She walked over to their campsite, invisible to both of them, as they were eating breakfast.

"Oh, this is going to be fun!" she said mischievously to herself.

She touched the scroll that Gabrielle had been working on. It glowed pink for a moment then returned to its normal form. From now on, anything that Gabrielle wrote would come true. Hopefully she would bring the Doctor back so they could be introduced.

"Enjoy!" she said as she disappeared.

Gabrielle had resumed her scroll tapping. Xena had just about had enough of it.

"For Zeus' sake, just write something," Xena snapped, "even if you don't think it'll work, write the first thing that comes into your head."

"Okay fine," Gabrielle said, then speaking as she wrote said, "All of a sudden, the Doctor's TARDIS appeared in front of Xena and Gabrielle, full stop. Happy?"

She didn't get her answer because all of a sudden, the Doctor's TARDIS appeared in front of Xena and Gabrielle. The sound of the wheezing engines filled their ears. The birds in the trees flew away in panic as the TARDIS materialized a few feet away from their campsite. The engines' noise ended with a 'thump' then all around was silent.

Xena and Gabrielle were so shocked neither could say a word.


	2. Chapter 2

Xena and Gabrielle stood up, looking at each other then the TARDIS, shocked. They waited for the Doctor to emerge.

Nothing.

Neither of them moved. The silence was deafening. As one by one the birds started flying back to investigate the strange box, Xena and Gabrielle moved closer to the TARDIS.

This whole thing had taken both of them by surprise. That they could just say the Doctor shows up, and then have the Doctor just show up was a hell of a coincidence. Then Xena worked up the courage to knock on the door.

No answer. Knock, knock again, a little harder this time. Again, no answer.

The wildlife around them was starting to settle down. One bird had even landed on top of the TARDIS and started examining the light on top.

Xena finally pounded her fist on the door so hard that the door opened a little. Xena and Gabrielle exchanged a glance.

"C'mon Xena," Gabrielle said excitedly.

"I'm not sure about this, Gabrielle," Xena said, warily.

Gabrielle laughed. "He won't mind, we're friends."

Xena shrugged. "Alright," she said, "A quick visit and then we're leaving, okay?"

"Deal," Gabrielle said as she pushed past Xena and ran into the TARDIS.

She made it a few paces in before she had to stop and gaze at the interior of this amazing ship. It had the feel of a king's temple but at the same time it was very homely. To her right, there was an armchair and side table next to a fireplace. The table was covered in books that all looked like they had only been read halfway before moving on to the next one.

Gabrielle had seen it all before and had only hoped of seeing it again and now that she was, she was savouring the opportunity.

Xena wasn't quite so enthralled with the TARDIS. The more she thought about it, the less she trusted the Doctor. He may not be a god, but his sudden appearance was a bit too much like Ares, showing up unexpectedly.

As she closed the door behind her, she called out, "Doctor!"

"Doctor, where are you?" Gabrielle joined in, approaching the TARDIS console.

It was covered in strange blinking lights, buttons and switches that didn't make any sense to her. One red light was flashing on and off very quickly. Gabrielle put out her hand to touch it. The instant she did, a ghostly image of the Doctor appeared behind Xena saying, "This is Emergency Program One, identify yourselves."

As quick as lightning, the startled Xena drew her sword then turned and swiped at the ghostly figure.

"Hostile intruders!" the ghost Doctor said, "Initiating…"

"Wait," Gabrielle came running up to the apparition. "Doctor, it's us. Xena and Gabrielle, remember. We met you outside that village. There was a time distortion and the TARDIS broke down. We only met you for a few minutes. Joxer was with us, he fainted when he saw the inside of the ship!"

Gabrielle spoke quickly to try and calm the Doctor down.

"Scanning data references." The Doctor said before he disappeared with a 'blip'.

Xena was getting frustrated. She felt as though the Doctor was messing with them.

"Stop playing games, Doctor. Show yourself!" she yelled.

She began searching the console room as Gabrielle started reading her scroll.

It had also occurred to Gabrielle that the Doctor's sudden arrival was a bit of a coincidence. She wrote the words down on the scroll and then, just seconds afterwards, he shows up. She had an idea, too ridiculous to mention to Xena just yet.

She sat down next to the console, quill in hand and wrote, 'Xena scratched her nose.'

Over on the other side of the room, Xena scratched her nose.

Gabrielle decided that wasn't enough. She needed conclusive proof that her theory. 'What would Xena never do?' she thought. Then she wrote on the scroll.

Xena was suddenly overcome by the urge to dance around the console like a chicken, making clucking noises all the while. Gabrielle started to feel guilty, using her friend as an experiment, and crossed out what she wrote.

Just as quickly, Xena stopped her chicken dance and then looked at Gabrielle. Gabrielle grinned sheepishly and looked away.

Xena marched up to the console, snatched the scroll out of Gabrielle's hand and read it.

" 'All of a sudden the Doctor's TARDIS appeared in front of Xena and Gabrielle. Xena scratched her nose' and then it's got 'Xena does a chicken dance' crossed out." Xena said. She looked up at Gabrielle, not impressed.

"I thought the scroll was enchanted. I had to be sure," Gabrielle said, defensively.

"Well, I think we can both be sure of that now," Xena said. "There's another thing I'm pretty sure of too."

"What?" Gabrielle asked.

"The Doctor's not here," Xena replied.

"What do you mean? This is his ship, he's gotta be here!" Gabrielle said.

Xena read the scroll again. " 'The Doctor's _TARDIS _appeared in front of Xena and Gabrielle'. You didn't write anything about the Doctor being in it when it arrived."

"Then where is he?" Gabrielle asked.

"Welcome, Xena and Gabrielle," the emergency program interrupted, having checked its data files. "Any questions you have, feel free to ask."

"Doctor, where are you?" Gabrielle asked.

"I am not the Doctor," he replied. "You are addressing the TARDIS emergency program interface."

"Okay, do **you **know where the Doctor is?" Xena asked.

"Information not available," the program stated.

"Oh gods!" Gabrielle cried, "he could be anywhere among a billion stars and now he's stranded because of me!"

Xena put her arms around her. "Don't worry Gabrielle, we'll find him. The Doctor won't even notice it was gone."

Gabrielle smiled. Xena was right, she was always right. They'd find him, no problem. Xena was always able to reassure her.

Xena then turned to the interface and asked, "Can you help us find him? How do I steer the TARDIS?"

The interface paused then stated, "The TARDIS is a twelve dimensional travel vessel. Humans are only capable of moving in 3 dimensions. It is therefore impossible for a human to pilot the TARDIS."

Gabrielle then got a bright idea. She grabbed the scroll and, while Xena wasn't looking, wrote, 'Luckily Xena, the Warrior Princess, was a woman of many skills and quickly picked up the basics of travelling in 12 dimensional vessels'. It was a bit of a long shot but it was worth a try.

She wrapped up the scroll and then came over to Xena and said, "Why don't we look at the console and see if we can make anything out of it?"

Xena, unaware of what Gabrielle had written in the scroll, moved to the console and noted all the flashing lights and spinning dials. She had never been on a ship with controls like these. All she had ever needed before was a wheel to keep the sails in check and she was fine.

Gabrielle watched Xena as she walked around the console. She reluctantly started flipping switches, turning dials, pressing buttons and pulling levers. The console started to buzz as if the whole ship was coming to life. Then she started tapping on the keyboard, staring at an image on a view screen that changed every second.

'She's really doing it,' Gabrielle thought.

She was amazed at how Xena seemed to pick up the controls effortlessly. Was it the scroll's enchantment or just Xena's natural genius? she wondered.

"What are you doing?" Gabrielle asked.

"It's like the ship is alive," Xena said. "It has here a memory of all the places the Doctor has visited. All I have to do is type in the last destination the TARDIS landed and it'll take us back there."

"But the interface said that it had no idea where the Doctor is," Gabrielle said.

"I'm not asking it where _the Doctor_ is, I'm asking where he last parked. It's very pedantic this thing," Xena said. "Well, that should do it. Hold on!"

She pulled a lever and then a groan erupted from the TARDIS as it took flight. The ride was not as bad as they thought it would be and in literally no time at all they arrived at their destination.


	3. Chapter 3

"That's funny," the Doctor said to himself, "I could've sworn I parked her here."

The year was 1993 and the gig had just finished. The band had really outdone itself this time. Well, not _really._ This would be the Doctor's seventh time at this particular concert. Not very responsible timelord practice but he couldn't help it. He loved Wyld Stallyns. Their lyrics and harmonies always made him feel at peace, which was not something he felt very often.

Going to the same concert over and over again did have its issues. This time he came to the realisation that it was _him_ in his seventh life that had spilled his drink on his fifth incarnation all those years ago. It was quite confusing for him personally. He apologized profusely for his stupidity and his fifth incarnation told him not to worry about it. However, the Doctor distinctly remembered in his fifth life, when he was on the receiving end of that drink, he wasn't nearly as forgiving as he made out to be. In fact, he secretly held a little grudge about it.

He also suspected that he saw one of his future incarnations looking at him during the concert. There was a young man wearing a tweed suit and bow tie, a woman with red hair, and a man with a slack jaw who looked quite dense. He hoped the slack jaw wasn't something that _he _had to look forward to.

But now the gig was over and he was looking for the TARDIS. **His **TARDIS. He'd already walked into one and was met by a rather rude version of himself wearing a black leather jacket. He spoke with a strong northern-England accent and basically threw him out on his rear.

"But I'm trying to find my TARDIS!" he'd cried. "Do you remember where it is?"

"It'll show up soon, now clear off!" the other Doctor said, before abruptly slamming the door.

'Soon?' thought the Doctor.

As the Doctor pondered this, he heard the sound of the TARDIS a few hundred yards away. He picked up his hat and umbrella and ran towards the sound. He was just in time to see another TARDIS materialising behind the stadium.

"Oh Doctor, your time dial's out again," he said, thinking that one of his later selves had turned up late to the gig.

He walked towards it, intent on reprimanding himself for his lateness. He was about to knock on the door when it opened.

"You imbecile! Do you have any idea what time it is?" the Doctor asked.

A familiar figure appeared at the door. "Now what kind of a greeting is that?"

"Xena!?" the Doctor exclaimed, "What the devil are you doing in my TARDIS?"

Xena didn't get a chance to explain, because in that moment, Gabrielle came running out of the TARDIS.

"Doctor!" Gabrielle exclaimed, giving him a big bear hug.

"Hello Gabrielle, it's wonderful to see you again," the Doctor said hugging Gabrielle "It really is, but how did you get here?"

"Read this," Xena said as she handed the Doctor Gabrielle's scroll.

The Doctor put on a pair of glasses and unrolled the scroll.

He read aloud, " 'All of a sudden, the Doctor's TARDIS appeared in front of Xena and Gabrielle. Xena scratched her nose. Xena did a chicken dance'?" he looked from Xena to Gabrielle, perplexed.

"Keep reading," Gabrielle said.

" 'Luckily Xena, the Warrior Princess, was a woman of many skills and quickly picked up the basics of travelling in 12 dimensional vessels'?" the Doctor continued.

"I didn't know about the last part," Xena said, giving a death stare to Gabrielle.

Gabrielle looked down, sheepishly.

"Why are you showing me this?" the Doctor demanded.

"Every thing that we have written on that scroll has come true," Xena said.

The Doctor stroked his chin.

"An enchanted scroll? Interesting," The Doctor said.

He walked past Xena and Gabrielle straight into the TARDIS. They quickly followed him inside and saw that he was attaching wires to the scroll and running beams of green light over it. He was acting very oddly.

"What are you doing, Doctor?" Xena asked.

"For something written on a scroll to come true, it requires an incredible amount of psychic ability and telekinesis. They would also have to know what was written on the scroll in order make it happen." The Doctor was typing into the console's keyboard as he spoke. "Tell me, did you write anything on the scroll while you were inside the TARDIS?" he asked.

"Just the 'Xena can fly the TARDIS' bit," Gabrielle admitted.

"I see," the Doctor said, still tapping away at the keys.

"I said what are you doing?" Xena asked again.

"The TARDIS itself is telepathic, it's scanning the scroll for a psychic wavelength," The Doctor said.

"Will that help us?" Gabrielle asked.

"It will help pinpoint who is responsible for this mess," the Doctor said.

Gabrielle walked towards the fireplace and sat down in front of it with her back to the Doctor and Xena. The Doctor was too busy running around the console to notice.

Xena noticed. She walked over to Gabrielle and sat next to her watching the fire.

"That'll be me then," Gabrielle whispered to Xena. "I'm responsible for this."

"It was an accident, Gabrielle. We'll find out who…"

"Aha!" the Doctor shouted in triumph.

Gabrielle and Xena both turned to the Doctor.

"You found it?" Gabrielle asked.

"Can we track it?" asked Xena.

"Yes, Gabrielle. No need, Xena." The Doctor said quickly. "Think about it. This psychic signature has the power to make incredible things occur but has to be within earshot to know what is written. You wrote on the scroll while inside the TARDIS, which means whoever enchanted the scroll…"

"… Is on board with us," Xena finished.

"Precisely," the Doctor said.

The Doctor then grabbed the microphone on the console and said, "It has come to my attention that there are four people onboard my ship. Xena, Gabrielle and myself have all been accounted for. Which leaves you, whoever you are. Show yourself this instant!"

As the Doctor spoke into the microphone, his voice boomed around the TARDIS. It seemed to come from everywhere.

"This must be a truly remarkable ship for him to project his voice all around us," Gabrielle remarked in wonder.

A woman's voice replied to the Doctor, "You'll have to come and get me!" she laughed.

"Oh, that's how you want to play, is it?" the Doctor growled. "Not on my ship!"

"That's Aphrodite," Xena said to the Doctor.

"Aphrodite? Greek goddess of love?" asked the Doctor. "This is going to be harder than I thought."

He turned to the screen on the console. Xena and Gabrielle were standing alongside him also looking at the screen. They saw amongst images of alleys and corridors a pink dot on the screen.

Xena pointed to it. "Is that her?" she asked.

"Yes," he said.

While they were looking at the pink dot on the left of the screen, it disappeared and reappeared on the right side of the screen.

"How are we going to catch her?" Gabrielle asked. "We could be here forever trying to find her. Unless you can teleport after her?" she added, hopefully.

"That won't be necessary. She'll come to us. I won't give her a choice," The Doctor replied.

He began tapping furiously on the keyboard. Xena and Gabrielle continued watching the screen as the image of the TARDIS's layout began to shift and alter.

"What are you doing?" Gabrielle asked.

"I'm changing the dimensions of the TARDIS. Adding rooms, subtracting rooms, multiplying rooms, dividing rooms. Even 'gods' can't be in two places at once," he said.

"You can add and take away rooms on the ship just like that?" Xena asked.

"TARDIS stands for 'Time And Relative Dimensions In Space'" The Doctor explained, not taking his eyes off the screen. "The dimensions of the ship are relative to this console. I have direct control over how many rooms there are and what size they are. From here, I can make a room as big as an arena, or as small as a grain of sand."

As they listened, Xena and Gabrielle saw the pink dot dart around the screen as the Doctor continued to manipulate the layout of the ship. It was as if he was playing a ball game, and Aphrodite was the ball. The pink dot was being stretched, flattened, bend out of shape, and split in half.

"I expect she's getting quite a headache by now," the Doctor said.

Then in a puff of pink smoke, Aphrodite appeared in the console room.

"Okay! Okay! You got me!" Aphrodite said putting her hands up.

The Doctor turned to Aphrodite and smiled. He walked slowly over to her, looking her up and down. He saw by her clothing that she was not armed or dangerous. She had no place to conceal a weapon if she was. So he decided to be courteous.

"Hello, I'm the Doctor," he said. "You must be Aphrodite. Pleasure."

There was an air of infinite superiority in the Doctor's voice that made Aphrodite grimace.

Aphrodite put her hands on her hips. "That was mean," she sulked.

"What you did was irresponsible," the Doctor said. "Do you have any idea what would have happened if the TARDIS fell into the wrong hands? Thank heavens it was Xena and Gabrielle who found it. Any one else, and the entire history of the universe could've unravelled."

"Sorry! I didn't think it was a big deal," Aphrodite said.

"Well," the Doctor said, "now that you've learnt your lesson, you can remove the spell, and then I'll take you all back to your time."

"Fine," Aphrodite said.

Gabrielle picked up the scroll, unhooked the wires from the TARDIS console and handed it to Aphrodite. The scroll glowed pink in her hands and then the glow disappeared. She handed the scroll back to Gabrielle and then turned to the Doctor.

"I only wanted to meet you," she said.

"Next time, meet me face-to-face," the Doctor said.

The Doctor turned back to the console and set the TARDIS in flight, back to Ancient Greece.

"Let's just make sure the coast is clear," the Doctor said.

He checked the view screen and saw only the campfire. He pulled another lever and the TARDIS doors opened. The Doctor shuffled everybody out before closing the door behind him.


	4. Chapter 4

After the Doctor had shuffled them out of the TARDIS and into the sunshine, Aphrodite turned to the Doctor.

"How do you do that 'bigger on the inside' thing anyway?" she asked, pointing at the TARDIS.

"Trade secret of the timelords, I'm afraid," the Doctor said.

"Ooh! Very mysterious," Aphrodite smiled, "I'll bet that drives the ladies crazy."

The Doctor blushed slightly. Xena and Gabrielle chuckled to themselves.

"Well, I'm outta here," Aphrodite said, "Bye, Doc!"

"Goodbye," the Doctor said with chagrin as Aphrodite disappeared. He didn't like it when people insisted on calling him 'Doc.'

"Well, I guess this is goodbye again, Doctor," Xena said.

"It is, indeed," he said, shaking Xena's hand.

"Goodbye, Doctor," Gabrielle said, "and thank you."

"What for?" he asked.

"What you said to Aphrodite before. 'Thank heavens Xena and Gabrielle found it otherwise history would've been ruined'. Thanks for having faith in us," Gabrielle said.

"You're welcome," he said.

"Can I talk to you alone for a second," Gabrielle asked.

She looked at Xena. Xena smiled.

"It's alright, I'll get Argo packed up and ready to go," Xena said, as she walked away.

Gabrielle grabbed the Doctor's arm and led him back into the TARDIS and closed the door.

"You've seen the future right? You know what happens?" Gabrielle asked.

The Doctor sighed. He'd been down this road before. People wanting to know their own futures. 'What happens to me?' 'Do I become successful?' They all want to know, but at the same time they don't want to know.

He of course knew about their last adventure to Japan. He doubted Gabrielle would want to know about that. In fact, he was convinced there was more to the story than that. He braced himself for her question.

"What happened to my daughter?" she asked.

Oh dear, thought the Doctor. Hope. Daughter of Dahak. Murderer of Solan, Xena's estranged son.

His reports on the conflict between Gabrielle and Xena are sketchy to say the least. Xena turned against Gabrielle because she lied about killing Hope. Gabrielle turned against Xena because she took her to Britain, which led her to Dahak.

However, even after this great and terrible struggle between these two women, they stayed close friends. In fact, they became closer than ever. This was a great mystery to the Doctor. And, if his watch was right, this was all set to happen in the next few weeks.

Gabrielle saw the concern on his face. "Tell me."

"I don't know," he lied.

"I don't believe you," she said, forcefully.

"Gabrielle, you mustn't ask me that," he said.

"Tell me, I need to know what happened to her!" Gabrielle cried in desperation

The Doctor was adamant. Any information he gave to her could disrupt the timeline. He didn't like it, but there was no choice. Even warning her about what was to come could be disastrous.

"I'm afraid I'll have to ask you to leave," the Doctor said, solemnly.

Gabrielle stepped back, wiping tears from her eyes. His silence said more about Hope than he had intended. She fixed herself up to make sure Xena wouldn't know she'd been crying, then stepped out side and closed the door.

The Doctor locked the door then walked over to the TARDIS console. He pulled on a lever and the TARDIS began to dematerialise.

"I'm so sorry, Gabrielle," he whispered to himself.

Outside, Xena and Gabrielle watched the TARDIS slowly disappear.

Xena turned to Gabrielle. "What did you want to ask him?"

"Oh, it doesn't matter," Gabrielle said.


End file.
